He gained his degree in medicine and surgery at the University of Bologna (Bologna, Italy) in 2001. He went on to study respiratory diseases at the University of Ferrara (Ferrara, Italy) and a PhD in Experimental Respiratory Pathophysiology at the University of Parma (Parma, Italy). As a recipient of a European Respiratory Society (ERS) fellowship, he spent 1 year (November 2003–November 2004) working in Professor Sebastian Johnston’s laboratory at St Mary’s Hospital (Imperial College, London, UK). Marco Contoli’s main clinical expertise is in the diagnosis, management and treatment of asthma and COPD. His research interests include mechanisms of virus-induced exacerbations of asthma and COPD, markers of airway inflammation and mechanisms of airways obstruction, and the impact of comorbid conditions in asthma and COPD. He has served as co-investigator in several clinical and pharmacological international trials conducted according to good clinical practice guidelines in the field of asthma and COPD. He has published research in leading international journals and serves as invited reviewer for the most important respiratory journals. He is a member of the ERS. José Luis López-Campos José Luis López-Campos is a pulmonologist at the Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío (Seville, Spain), and is the head of the monographic COPD and the bronchiectasis outpatient clinic. He also serves as Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Seville (Seville) and tutors residents of pneumology at the Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío. He is head of a research group linked to the CIBER of Respiratory Diseases, Ministry of Economy, Spain. His research projects include epidemiology, clinical audits and translational research in COPD. As well as serving as an Associate Editor of Archivos de Bronconeumología, José Luis Lopez-Campos is Chair of the Monitoring Airway Disease group of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) and is a member of the ERS College of Experts. He was previously: secretary of the COPD Assembly at the Spanish national society (SEPAR) Web Director at SEPAR and ERS Clinical Assembly web coordinator. Recent publications have included research on T-helper type 2 signatures in chronic airway diseases (with the CHACOS study group), results from the Andalusian COPD audit and a study of the effects of smoke-free legislation on lung cancer mortality trends. xiv https://doi.org/10.1183/2312508X.10010617